Le Troisième Monde

"Le Troisième Monde”is the 6th in my 2018 series of 'Summer Shorts' original copyright press releases sent from my happy home in the sunny south of Portugal

LE TROISIÈME MONDE

Marlena collected her hire car at Nice Airport and drove out on to the the Promenade des Anglais. At the first traffic control heading east from the airport she stopped for the red lights and barely noticed the two motor scooters which pulled up beside her, one on either side. In a flash each of the riders opened an unlocked door of her car, grabbed her handbag and light luggage and sped off.

Shortly afterwards a distraught Marlena sobbed her sad tale to two less than sympathetic officers at the Commissariat Central de Police. “This would never happen where I live,” she blubbered. “And where exactly do you live?” queried one of les flicques, concentrating more on the not unimpressive smoke ring he was blowing from his last inhalation of Disque Bleu than on his own question. “Ansouis in the Luberon Massif,” she replied proudly.

“Haa-a!” exclaimed the officer, followed by the stuck out lip, the raised shoulders and the upturned palms of a classic Gallic shrug, that pièce de résistance of French gestures which means anything and nothing. He accompanied his performance with another French staple, the “Phooff,” blown out through his curled lip and a disparaging, “Troisième monde,” as he grimaced to his colleague who responded with a lazy, conspiratorial nod.

This display of disdain instantly shocked Marlena from her duvet of helpless self pity and restored her to the not inconsiderable tour de force of her normal being – a woman to be reckoned with.

“Oui Monsieur,” she retorted, her statuesque figure thrust square in his face, “Ansouis is a beautiful and remote backwater and we do not lock our doors and yes we have break-ins ... but in our village people come not to rob us but to leave gifts. When I return home I find fresh fruit and vegetables, cheeses, milk and eggs – and flowers – on my kitchen table; and kind notes of friendship inquiring as to my well-being or inviting me to a local fête or soirée in someone's home. And here - what do you do? Here you welcome the riff-raff from the four corners of the earth, tolerate their criminal behaviour and accept it as normal. Then you have the impertinence to refer to my paradise on earth and it's kind and caring people as le troisième monde. You monsieur are an imbécile!”

With that Marlena stormed from the building. Her belongings were never recovered and she received no communiqué of any kind from the Police Nationale in Nice nor anywhere else. She was however seen to kick a police motor scooter parked outside le Prefecture de Police as she left and heard to mutter, “Putain de la mère du diable!” But she denied having said that.

LE TROISIÈME MONDE is an original copyright Tom Riach press release, short and to the point. I hope you enjoyed reading it and found it informative and/or entertaining. To learn more or to get in touch with me please visit me on my website at TOMRIACH.COM

It took me some years to establish myself in business but I believe that in life only the most resolute of tryers will prevail and after several years of a bank account in a permanent state of cardiac arrest my perseverance began to pay!

I became a successful Business Consultant, Investment Adviser and award-winning Salesperson and Marketing Professional and I coined the term 'Creative Solutions' to describe my work in devising and implementing innovative approaches to situations in business, commerce and industry (some call it trouble-shooting). From my successes I grew my own group of small companies.

Today I host my 'Wake Up Leisure and Learning Breaks', personal mentoring and business guidance, in the tranquility and calm of the sunny south of Portugal and I am the author of several best-selling books on the subject of successful living.